Heel blisters

[Jim]

I had a pair of Raichle's about 15 yrs ago and just wore them into the ground. Never had a blister. I picked up a pair of All Degrees recently and first time out got dime-sized blisters on both heels. Ouch! Probably should have prevent-taped. Any advice on how you break in new boots and methods of heel taping? My wife says its because I wear approach shoes for many outings and my feet don't get enough time in the bigger boots like I used to. Do folks heel tape for prevention often after say a season with new boots? Thanks.

[ericb]

Jim...I still automatically tape my heals in moutaineering boots...even after they are broken in. I don't know whether it's really necessary in my comfy Garmonts, but I'd rather err on the side of caution. Once you get a blister, takes a long time to heal. Tape's cheap, and I wear liner socks, so other than gumming up a pair of $7 liner socks each year, I've not found any real downsides to just taping them up and not worrying about them.

[i_like_sun]

I do the same thing. If I haven't been in my boots for a while my heels lose their calluses and blisters will happen. I too buy new liner socks every year, and I also use duct tape on my heals before I go; usually one vertical strip down the Achilles and one horizontal strip across the heal. Mole's skin works great too, but its expensive and don't seem to do any better for me than duct tape.

 

I also actually "punched" my boots out in the heels. I've got these shitty ass bumpy heels that love to get ripped to hell. So I got the heel leather all soaked wet and heated it up with a hair dryer, then used a metal rod that I rounded on the end with a Dremel tool and bolted to a wooden plank and proceeded to smash the leather out - basically like molding a baseball glove. Now there is a nice little pocket that doesn't kill my heels anymore. But like above, the precautionary steps seem to do the trick for me.

 

Good luck on this. Blisters have seriously been the vein of my existence!

[ClimbingPanther]

As long as it's not super cold out, I wear a pair of ankle-high Nike dri-fit anti-blister socks next to my skin, and put a cool-max liner over the top. You get the benefit of the two-sock system without the overkill on warmth and size (both are very thin layers). It fills about the same space as a mid-weight wool sock. I have never gotten a blister with this combo, ever.

 

I tried to find the Nike socks I own, but I think they're discontinued. Maybe this is similar??? [shox lightweight no show]

http://www.nike.com/index.jhtml#l=nikestore,grid,_grid,f-10002+12002+4294967049+4294967256&re=US&co=US&la=EN

Edited August 6, 2007 by ClimbingPanther

[marylou]

"Heels" are the things on the backs of your feet.

 

"Heal" is what an injured thing does to get better.

 

Sorry to nitpick, but it slows down the reading comprehension by a factor of 900 for native English speakers trying to follow the thread.

 

It's interesting about heavy boots. I have tough calloused feet and very rarely get blisters, but if I haven't been in my big boots for a while, they really rip up my feet, including my heels. This happened again this past weekend. Perhaps it's true that the only way to keep feet tough enough to wear them is to do it a lot--just I only want to wear mine when I'm sure I'll need all that support...they heavy!

 

Good discussion, hopefully I can learn something from other people here on this.

[catbirdseat]

A friend of mine tried Body Glide on his feet. It's the stuff that long distance runners use to reduce chafe. Well he said it worked wonders on his heels.

 

The active ingredient, allantoin. Allantoin is the compound that most birds and reptiles use to get ride of excess nitrogen from metabolism.

[Noodle]

My heels have been ripped to shreds in less than a mile in new, otherwise very comfortable boots, until I picked up this trick.

 

Take a gallon zip lock back and use scissors to cut off the top of it where the seal is. Now slide that bag into your boot with the open end on top. Put your foot in the boot, and you'll have two sheets of slippery plastic bag between your heel and the boot. This in combination with not lacing up too hard works wonders for my heels. The guy I learned this trick from had gotten some heavier duty bags from somewhere, but I find that ziplocks work well.

[Stefan]

I have always thought that maybe a tight rubber type sock with limited holes for ventilation would work. Maybe latex sock?

 

I haven't found any....then again, I haven't really looked.

[Doug]

Try Engo Blister Pads. Available @ Road Runner Sports. Just slap them on the insides of the boot and you get a nice friction free surface. Linky Thing

Edited August 16, 2007 by Doug

[melmomma]

If you do get a blister and want to continue to rock on, here's the bomber treatment. Use either tincture of benzione or a product called Kanka for canker sores. This will hurt like HELL but seal the offending blister right away. Then tape it with cloth tape and with rounded edges so it doesn't get caught on your sock.

 

I had 2 seasons of relentless blisters. I found the right boots and got them sporadically. Then I switched socks. I dumped the liner and went to Dahlgren's - they did the trick. Hard to find but worth it.